First Edition: June 14, 2022

KHN:
As Biden Fights Overdoses, Harm Reduction Groups Face Local Opposition

Casey Malish had just pulled into an intersection in the 2nd Ward when a woman with tattoos and pinkish hair unexpectedly hopped into the back seat of his gray Mazda. He handles outreach for the Houston Harm Reduction Alliance, a nonprofit that helps drug users like her stay alive. The woman, Desiree Hess, had arranged to meet with him, but Malish, as usual, wasn’t sure what to expect on this recent afternoon. Hess told Malish to take her to near the Value Village thrift store before she explained why she was so frantic. (Rayasam, 6/14)

KHN:
Preventive Care May Be Free, But Follow-Up Diagnostic Tests Can Bring Big Bills 

When Cynthia Johnson learned she would owe $200 out-of-pocket for a diagnostic mammogram in Houston, she almost put off getting the test that told her she had breast cancer. “I thought, ‘I really don’t have this to spend, and it’s probably nothing,’” said Johnson, who works in educational assessment at a university. But she decided to go forward with the test because she could put the copay on a credit card. (Andrews, 6/14)

AP:
HHS Secretary Becerra Tests Positive For COVID-19 Again 

President Joe Biden’s top health official has again tested positive for COVID-19, less than a month after he came down with virus symptoms while on a trip to Germany. U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra woke up with symptoms again Monday morning and tested positive afterward, spokeswoman Sarah Lovenheim said. … Becerra had joined Biden at the Summit of the Americas last week in Los Angeles. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that he had tested positive after attending the event, which gathered dignitaries, diplomats and business leaders from across the hemisphere. (Murphy, 6/13)

The Washington Post:
Trudeau Again Tests Positive For Coronavirus After Meeting Biden At Summit Of The Americas

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus for a second time, days after meeting with President Biden and several other world leaders at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. … Trudeau met with several other U.S. officials during the trip, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), as well as the leaders of Argentina, Jamaica, Barbados and the Dominican Republic. Chilean President Gabriel Boric met with Trudeau in Ottawa on June 6. Trudeau also met with Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, and General Motors President Shilpan Amin. Trudeau also tested positive in January. He said he was fully vaccinated and received a third dose of a vaccine that month.

AP:
US Sen. Wicker Of Mississippi Again Tests Positive For COVID

Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi has again tested positive for COVID-19, his office said Monday. … Wicker, 70, attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in late May. Wicker was also diagnosed with COVID-19 in August last year and in February this year. He said in February that he is fully vaccinated against the virus. (6/14)

AP:
Ducey Gets COVID-19, Won’t Visit Arizona Border With Pence

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has tested positive for COVID-19 and won’t attend a planned political event Monday with former Vice President Mike Pence, his spokesman said. Ducey is asymptomatic and feels well, spokesman C.J. Karamargin said. (6/13)

The Washington Post:
In The Wake Of Uvalde, Ohio Will Arm Teachers 

As Congress wrestles over gun control, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed into law a bill Monday that would arm more schoolteachers by reducing training requirements for staffers to carry guns on campus. … Ohio already permits schoolteachers to be armed, but they need the permission of their school board and 700 hours of training as a peace officer. In the news conference Monday, DeWine said school staff who want to carry weapons will be required to have at least 24 hours of training. (Balingit, 6/13)

AP:
Tentative Senate Gun Deal Has Surprises, And Loose Ends

Details of the plan remain in negotiation between Democrats and Republicans, with disagreements over how tightly the initiatives should be drawn. That means the proposal’s potency — and perhaps whether some parts survive — remain undetermined as it’s translated into legislation. Here’s what’s in and out of the agreement. (Fram, 6/14)

PBS NewsHour:
What Research Says About Identifying People Who Might Commit Mass Shootings 

Even if the proposed framework for gun safety legislation is signed into law, the U.S. will likely still struggle with far too many mass shootings. Researchers are trying to better understand what’s behind these shootings. Dr. Jillian Peterson and Dr. James Densley, who co-founded The Violence Project, join William Brangham to discuss. (6/13)

The Hill:
House To Vote On Security Bill For Supreme Court Family Members 

The House is scheduled to vote on a bill Tuesday that seeks to expand security protections for family members of Supreme Court justices. The bill, dubbed the Supreme Court Police Parity Act, passed in the Senate by unanimous consent last month, which required that all 100 senators sign off on the measure in order for it to clear without holding a formal vote. (Schnell, 6/13)

The Washington Post:
Nicholas Roske Texted His Sister Outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s House 

Just what prompted Nicholas Roske to go from an alleged plot to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh to calling 911 and surrendering near the justice’s home is of great interest to investigators continuing to probe the alarming incident from last week. Court records say that after Roske flew in from California and got out of a taxi near the conservative justice’s home in Chevy Chase, Md., just after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, he saw two deputy U.S. marshals standing outside their vehicle and he walked away. But another factor may also have played an important role. (Morse, 6/13)

AP:
New York State To Protect Abortion Providers Under New Laws 

New York has expanded legal protections for people seeking and providing abortions in the state under legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday. The Democratic governor pushed for the laws in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court potentially overruling its 1973 Roe v. Wade’s decision, which established a constitutional right to abortion. A ruling that could weaken or end abortion protections is expected as early as this week, and abortion providers are worried New York will see a surge in out-of-state residents. (Villeneuve, 6/14)

The Hill:
Harris To Convene Privacy Experts To Talk Stakes Of Roe V. Wade 

Vice President Harris is slated to meet with privacy, constitutional law, and technology experts to discuss what is at stake if the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling is overturned by the Supreme Court. A White House official said the discussion on Tuesday will focus on real-world implications should the landmark ruling be overturned, touching on topics such as privacy, contraception, and in vitro fertilization. (Oshin, 6/13)

The New York Times:
Battles Over Birth Control In Missouri Foreshadow A Post-Roe World

For more than half a century, Tri-Rivers Family Planning has operated on a shoestring budget, providing contraceptives, pregnancy testing, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and other reproductive health care to a mostly low-income and female clientele in the Ozark Mountains. The clinic has never performed abortions. But with the Supreme Court widely expected to revoke the constitutional right to abortion that it established in Roe v. Wade, its work has never been more essential — and its nurse practitioners and patients have never felt more threatened. (Stolberg, 6/13)

AP:
Yelp CEO Says Abortion Rights Stand Is A Risk Worth Taking

Many major companies have chosen to stay quiet on the abortion debate, but Yelp and its CEO Jeremy Stoppelman have chosen a different path. The San Francisco-based online reviews site is among the handful of companies covering travel costs for employees and their dependents who must travel out of state to obtain an abortion, a thorny topic that’s poised to become the chatter of many boardrooms if the Supreme Court overturns the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. If Roe falls, roughly half of U.S. states are expected to ban or put greater restrictions on abortion. (Hadero, 6/13)

AP:
Ohio Reports 1st Probable Monkeypox Case In The State 

Ohio health officials say they have identified the first probable case of monkeypox in the state. Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of the Ohio Department of Health, told reporters Monday that a man in Ohio tested positive for an orthopox virus. State health officials are working with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to try to confirm whether the disease is in fact monkeypox, he said. (Hendrickson, 6/13)

CIDRAP:
UK Reports 194 More Monkeypox Cases As US Total Hits 49

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced today it has detected 104 additional cases of monkeypox in England, bringing the UK total to 470 cases. … In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said there are now 49 US cases in 17 states. California has the most, with 15, followed by New York with 11, and Illinois with 8. (Soucheray, 6/13)

Axios:
More Monkeypox Testing Needed To Understand How Far Its Spread

A lack of testing is keeping public health officials in the dark about how widespread monkeypox is in the United States and posing new uncertainties for the medical system. Why it matters: The lack of robust disease-tracking harks back to the troubled early response to COVID-19 and could bode ill for local health systems still grappling with the virus, its aftereffects and the impending flu season. (Dreher, 6/14)

The Washington Post:
Covid Is Making Flu And Other Common Viruses Act In Unfamiliar Ways 

More than two years into the coronavirus pandemic, familiar viruses are acting in unfamiliar ways. Respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV, typically limits its suffocating assaults to the winter months. Rhinovirus, cause of the common cold, rarely sends people to the hospital. And the flu, which seemed to be making a comeback in December after being a no-show the year before, disappeared again in January once the omicron variant of the coronavirus took hold. Now flu is back, but without one common lineage known as Yamagata, which hasn’t been spotted since early 2020. It could have gone extinct or may be lying in wait to attack our unsuspecting immune systems, researchers said. (Sellers, 6/13)

CNN:
CDC Adds 3 Places To ‘High’ Risk List, Including Mexico And UAE

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday placed three new destinations in its “high” risk category for Covid-19, including a North American travel behemoth. In April, the CDC overhauled its ratings system for assessing Covid-19 risk for travelers. (Brown and Hunter, 6/13)

AP:
West Virginia Surpasses 7,000 Coronavirus Deaths

West Virginia has surpassed 7,000 coronavirus deaths as Gov. Jim Justice urged residents Monday to stay current on their COVID-19 vaccinations. According to the Department of Health and Human Resources’ website, 7,001 people have died in the state over the past two years since the pandemic started. (6/13)

AP:
Massachusetts To Distribute 2 Million COVID-19 Tests

Massachusetts is distributing another 2 million COVID-19 free testing kits this week, state health officials said Monday. The tests will be sent to the 264 municipalities across the state that requested them, and officials in those cities and towns will then determine how to distribute them among residents. (6/13)

San Francisco Chronicle:
If You Never Tested Positive For COVID After Exposure And Symptoms, What Does That Mean?

As the latest COVID surge continues to keep cases high across California, some people — especially if they’ve been repeatedly exposed to the coronavirus or even had symptoms — may be wondering: Why have I still not tested positive? While experts continue to try to understand what, if any, genetic factors protect people from ever getting COVID, the question of why some people never seem to test positive, even if they are fairly sure they were infected, is a bit less of a mystery, though still not entirely clear. (Echeverria, 6/13)

AP:
No Satisfaction: Jagger Has COVID, Rolling Stones Gig Off

The Rolling Stones canceled their concert in Amsterdam on Monday, just hours before it was due to start after lead singer Mick Jagger tested positive for COVID-19. The band announced the cancelation in a statement, saying the 78-year-old Jagger tested positive “after experiencing symptoms of COVID upon arrival at the stadium” on the outskirts of Amsterdam. There were no further details about his condition. (6/13)

CIDRAP:
Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine’s Safety Slightly Bests Pfizer’s 

An observational study today in JAMA Internal Medicine reports a slightly better safety profile for the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine than for the Pfizer/BioNTech version in US veterans, but both vaccines had very good safety profiles. … Relative to the Moderna group, Pfizer recipients had an excess per 10,000 people of 10.9 ischemic strokes, 14.8 heart attacks, 11.3 other abnormal blood clotting, and 17.1 cases of kidney injury. (Van Beusekom, 6/13)

NBC News:
A Big Week For Children’s Covid Vaccines: Here’s What To Expect

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee will meet Wednesday to weigh in on Covid vaccines for children under 5. The committee’s endorsement is a crucial step before the FDA can authorize the shots, from both Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, for the age group. Children under 5 are the only group in the United States who remain ineligible to get vaccinated. (Lovelace Jr., 6/13)

The Wall Street Journal:
FDA Advisers To Consider Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine For Ages 6 To 17 

A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration is set to meet Tuesday to consider whether use of Moderna Inc.’s Covid-19 vaccine should be expanded to include children ages 6 through 17. The advisory committee is expected to vote Tuesday afternoon on whether the benefits of vaccinating children in this age group outweigh the risks. The FDA will consider the vote in making a final decision on whether to clear the vaccine for use in children 6 years and older. (Loftus, 6/14)

The Washington Post:
Record-Setting Heat Wave Expands East; Over 100 Million Under Alerts

A massive heat wave that has set scores of temperature records from Texas to California is swelling into the eastern United States. Over 100 million Americans from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes are under heat alerts through the middle of the week as temperatures soar toward the triple digits. (Cappucci and Samenow, 6/13)

AP:
Indiana Agency: High Ozone May Mean Breathing Woes For Some 

Indiana’s environmental agency is warning that high ozone levels expected statewide Tuesday could make it hard for some Hoosiers to breathe. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued a statewide Air Quality Action Day on Monday, saying that high levels of ground-level ozone, or smog, are forecast for Tuesday. (6/13)

AP:
Kentucky Shatters Its Fatal Overdose Record; Fentanyl Blamed

Fatal drug overdoses rose nearly 15% in Kentucky last year, surpassing 2,000 deaths as the increased use of fentanyl — a powerful synthetic opioid — resulted in a record death toll in the state, according to a report released Monday. The report showed that 2,250 Kentuckians died from drug overdoses in 2021 — an ongoing scourge plaguing rural counties and the state’s largest cities alike. It was the first time the Bluegrass State surpassed 2,000 drug overdose deaths in a single year, said Van Ingram, executive director of the state Office of Drug Control Policy. (Schreiner, 6/13)

AP:
Compounding Pharmacy Agrees To Stop Distributing Some Drugs 

A Vermont compounding pharmacy has agreed to stop producing adulterated and misbranded drugs, the U.S. Justice Department said Monday. Edge Pharma of Colchester and its owners and operators signed a consent decree with the Justice Department on Friday that requires Edge Pharma Inc. of Colchester to take specific remedial measures to ensure its products are safe and demonstrate to the Food and Drug Administration that they will comply with federal law. (6/13)

AP:
Maine Gov Creates ‘Cabinet On Aging’ To Prepare For Changes 

The governor of the oldest state in the nation created a “Cabinet on Aging” on Monday with a hope of preparing for demographic changes that will impact health care and the workforce. Maine has the nation’s oldest median age. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said that means tens of thousands of residents will retire in the coming years in the state. (6/13)

AP:
Care Network To Make Changes After Trans Discrimination Case 

A network of adult care facilities in Maine will adopt a nondiscrimination policy about the care of transgender people as part of a settlement with a woman who filed a human rights complaint against the company. Advocates described the agreement as a landmark settlement about elder care for transgender adults in the state. The settlement came three months after Maine’s human rights panel ruled in favor of the 79-year-old woman, Marie King, who complained she was denied a room by an assisted living facility because she is transgender. (Whittle, 6/13)

The New York Times:
F.D.A. Approves Alopecia Drug That Restores Hair Growth In Many Patients 

The disease can vary in severity, but for some, it can be life-altering — a total loss of body hair, including eyelashes and eyebrows, even nose hair and hair in the ears. And, until recently, for those with alopecia areata, there was no treatment to make the hair grow back. But on Monday, the Food and Drug Administration approved baricitinib, a drug made by Eli Lilly that regrows hair by blocking the immune system from attacking hair follicles. Two other companies, Pfizer and Concert Pharmaceuticals, are close behind with similar drugs, known as JAK inhibitors. The drugs are already on the market for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. F.D.A. approval is important for insurance coverage of these expensive drugs, which have a list price of nearly $2,500 a month. (Kolata, 6/13)

The New York Times:
New Experimental Therapy For A.L.S. Approved In Canada

An experimental therapy for A.L.S., the paralyzing and fatal neurological disorder, has been approved in Canada, adding a new treatment option for a disease for which there are few effective therapies. The approval, the first in the world for the treatment — AMX0035, to be marketed in Canada as Albrioza — comes with the condition that the drug company later provide better evidence that the treatment works. (Belluck, 6/13)

The New York Times:
They Were Cigarette Smokers. Then A Stroke Vanquished Their Addiction. 

Taking a scan of an injured brain often produces a map of irretrievable losses, revealing spots where damage causes memory difficulties or tremors. But in rare cases, those scans can expose just the opposite: plots of brain regions where an injury miraculously relieves someone’s symptoms, offering clues about how doctors might accomplish the same. A team of researchers has now taken a fresh look at a set of such brain images, drawn from cigarette smokers addicted to nicotine in whom strokes or other injuries spontaneously helped them quit. (Mueller, 6/13)

Stat:
Study: Enrollment In Medical Cannabis Programs Saw Four-Fold Increase

Enrollment in medical cannabis programs across the U.S. jumped by over four times between 2016 and 2020, according to a new study that also examined the qualifying conditions patients list on their licensing forms. Researchers found increasing enrollment was clustered in states with medical-only cannabis programs, while enrollment in states that also permit recreational use declined or stagnated between 2016 and 2020. The researchers identified chronic pain as the most commonly listed condition specified on medical license applications. (Welle, 6/13)

Modern Healthcare:
700K Patients Involved In Arizona Hospital Cybersecurity Incident

A ransomware attack at Yuma Regional Medical Center in April potentially involved 700,000 patients. The attack took place between April 21 and April 25 and affected the southwestern Arizona hospital’s internal systems, the hospital said Friday. In response, the hospital said it took its systems offline and launched an investigation into the incident. There have been at least 270 data breaches within healthcare this year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights breach portal. The single large breach occurred in May, which involved 2 million Shields Health Care Group patients. (Berryman, 6/13)

Modern Healthcare:
5 Things To Know From Day One Of The AMA’s Annual Meeting 

The healthcare industry should combat disinformation through fact-checking, penalties and proactive engagement, doctors said at the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates meeting in Chicago Monday. The AMA governing body took positions on a range of topics including disinformation, obesity, the minimum wage, universal child care and payment rates. (Kacik, 6/13)

Stat:
Language Barriers Keep Parents From Asking Questions About Kids’ Care

Handoffs are one of the most dangerous times in a patient’s care: As one team of caregivers passes a case to the next shift, a clinician might neglect to jot down an important observation, forget to input an order for a test before heading home, or fail to realize that a medication ordered overnight never arrived by morning. But handoffs do not have to be so perilous, and patients and families themselves can provide a valuable safeguard against medical errors arising from these inevitable transition points. For children in particular, parents are the ones who notice when their infant’s formula was accidentally swapped, or whether their preschooler is still clutching her head in pain after it should have eased. It is with this expertise in mind that a group of physicians and researchers at 32 hospitals across the U.S. and Canada are pushing to improve the handoff procedure and bring patients and families more into the process. But providers have to be thoughtful about how they do that — especially when caring for kids whose parents and families are not proficient in English. (Chen, 6/13)

Stat:
Startup Gets Green Light To Use Apple Watch To Track Parkinson’s Symptoms

Software that enables Apple Watch-based tracking of Parkinson’s disease symptoms has received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration, a move that could open doors for its maker as it strives to reach more people living with movement disorders — and potentially, those who haven’t developed them yet. The StrivePD system uses Apple’s Movement Disorder API to track tremors and dyskinetic symptoms of Parkinson’s from the Apple Watch. The data is all collected in an iPhone application, which allows patients to record their symptoms and keep tabs on medication. (Aguilar, 6/13)

The Washington Post:
Why Is There A Tampon Shortage? 

A tampon shortage is putting a strain on consumers across the country, an outgrowth of the same forces vexing the global economy — from soaring raw material and fuel costs, to labor shortages and an embattled supply chain — and experts say little relief is in sight. (Telford, 6/13)

The Washington Post:
Can Your Medical Records Be Used For Marketing? Yes, If You Agree To This 

Your intimate health information may not be as private as you think if you don’t look carefully at the forms you sign at the doctor’s office. There’s a burgeoning business in harvesting our patient data to target us with ultra-personalized ads. Patients who think medical information should come from a doctor — rather than a pharmaceutical marketing department — might not like that. (Fowler, 6/13)

The Hill:
Particulate Pollution Is Reducing Global Life Expectancy By More Than Two Years: Analysis

Particulate air pollution is reducing life expectancy by 2.2 years globally compared to a hypothetical world that meets international health guidelines, a new report has found. Worldwide exposure to fine particulate patter — PM 2.5, or particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less — has an impact on par with that of smoking, more than three times that of alcohol use and unsafe water, according to the University of Chicago’s 2022 Air Quality Life Index. (Udasin, 6/14)

NBC News:
14 Percent Of World Population May Have Had Lyme Disease, Research Finds

More than 14 percent of the world’s population may have had Lyme disease, an analysis released on Monday revealed. The research, published in BMJ Global Health, is the result of an examination of nearly 90 studies. It offers an unprecedentedly robust picture of how common the tick-borne illness may be. (Bendix, 6/13)

The Washington Post:
Abortion In Japan Is Legal, But Most Women Need Their Husband’s Consent

With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn a 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, there is a global spotlight on reproductive care — including in Japan, which has some of the tightest restrictions on abortion among wealthy nations. Japan is one of 11 countries — and the only one of the Group of Seven largest economies — that mandate women to get their spouse’s consent to obtain an abortion, with very few exceptions, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, an international organization. In practice, advocates say, the requirement often applies to unmarried women, too. (Ye Hee Lee and Inuma, 6/14)